12:57 AM,
Feb. 9, 2014

Candace Fallon introduces yucca moths to blooms on Joshua trees in the Mojave Desert on April 7, 2011. A century from now, the plant could push its way into new territory or be teetering on the brink of extinction.

Written by

Henry Brean
Las Vegas Review-Journal

A century from now, the Mojave Desert's iconic plant could be pushing its way into new territory or teetering on the brink of extinction.

This spring, a pair of researchers will go looking for clues to the Joshua tree's fate in a lonesome valley 140 miles north of Las Vegas. And they're inviting interested "citizen scientists" to join them in their search.

Henderson-based ecologist Todd Esque, from the U.S. Geological Survey, and evolutionary biologist Chris Smith, from Willamette University in Salem, Ore., are offering a four-day course in March called "The Race North: Population ...